‘Justice League’ movie hopes to finally bring Batman and together on screen

If teaming up worked for Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk, it has to work for Batman, , and Wonder Woman, right?

Warner Bros. Pictures seems to think so, as Variety reported yesterday that the studio has hired a new writer to bring DC Comics' "Justice League" to the big screen. Just as "The Avengers" assembled the biggest heroes from Marvel Comics, "Justice League" would see DC's iconic characters joining forces to save the world. (DC Comics is a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment.) The fact that "The Avengers" is now the third highest-grossing film of all time with $1.3 billion worldwide seems to have reignited the fire to get the other legendary superhero team up on movie screens.
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Variety's report states that Will Beall, who wrote the upcoming "Gangster Squad" (starring Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin) for Warner Bros., has been hired to take on the screenplay. Beall previously wrote for TV's "Castle," but he has also been announced as the writer for new movie versions of "Logan's Run" and "Lethal Weapon 5."

While interest in a "Justice League" movie has certainly been rekindled by the record-breaking success of "The Avengers," the project has been in the works for several years. Director George Miller ("Mad Max," "Happy Feet") was hired for the film in the fall of 2007, with production scheduled to begin the next year for a planned 2009 release.

The original plan was to have a completely fresh cast of actors take on the comic book roles, separate from any existing franchise. Unlike "The Avengers," where the original stars returned, this would have a different cast (so no Christian Bale as Batman). At the time, Armie Hammer ("The Social Network") was attached to play Batman, with D.J. Cotrona as , Adam Brody as the Flash, and Megan Gale as Wonder Woman.

The Writer's Guild strike in late 2007 put a halt to the project, however. The production went into an indefinite hiatus, with George Miller moving on to a new "Mad Max" reboot, which is scheduled to start filming soon. In the intervening years, Warner Bros. released the disappointing "Green Lantern," with "The Dark Knight Rises" coming this summer and the new film "The Man of Steel" slated for next June.

That wasn't the first time Warner Bros. tried and failed to get DC's heaviest hitters together in one movie. In the early 2000s, the studio developed "Batman Vs. ," which would have pitted the two heroes against each other (though in the end they would team up to take on Lex Luthor). Josh Hartnett was rumored for , with Colin Farrell considered for Batman. But that was eventually shelved in favor of Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins."

Currently, there isn't a director, cast or release date for "Justice League," but summer of 2014 seems like it would be the earliest we could expect to see it. There are also a host of individual DC superhero movies in development, including the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Lobo.

It's also unclear if Warner Bros. still plans to keep the "Justice League" as a separate continuity from the standalone movies, or integrate them the way Marvel built up to "The Avengers." When Joss Whedon, the director of "The Avengers" was asked if he had any advice for the people making "Justice League," he jokingly answered, "Call me." He followed it by saying that it's harder to bring DC characters to the screen than Marvel since they are "from an old, bygone era" where heroes were less flawed and grounded. And Whedon would know, since he tried to bring "Wonder Woman" to the screen in another project that stalled out several years ago.

UPDATE: Mark Millar, the writer who created the comic books the inspired the movies "Wanted" and "Kick-Ass," posted on his official website MillarWorld.tv that someone he knows is friends with screenwriter Will Beall and got a peek at the unfinished "Justice League" script. Millar reported that the new take on the movie is "Very real-world and not at all what you might expect." He said Beall began working on the script before "The Avengers" hit theaters, and that the "tidbits I heard sound quite dark and mature, which isn't what I expected."

Sounds like a pretty lightweight cast they had planned. That isn't going to get anybody excited. The Wonder Woman they had planned has an acting resume of three forgettable minor movies in nine years.

That's the point I was making a few days ago. The Avengers are bigger right now in a mainstream sense than they've ever been prior. And it's all recent. Flash back four years ago, how many people outside of geeks like us - meaning regular people - would recognize Iron Man, or know anything about him. Captain America before 2011 had a horrible movie that about 6 people saw in 1990. Some people might have recognized Thor from The Incredible Hulk Returns. But probably not. And I doubt anybody now still has a clue who Black Widow and Hawkeye even are. At the start of this run of movies, the Hulk was it. People know him (sort of) thanks to Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno.

DC characters have had a bigger mainstream presence, and it goes back decades. Batman's had multiple movies and TV series. 's had multiple radio shows, tv series and movies. Wonder Woman's had a TV series. Even Flash had a tv series in 1990 (I was one of about 4 people who watched it I think). Ten years ago they tried (and failed...) an all female show with Birds of Prey. Recently they had a shit ton of characters appear on Smallville, everybody from Aquaman to Hawkman to Green Arrow. Green Arrow's had a movie, bad as it was. All this without even talking about the cartoons that have been running basically nonstop on Cartoon Network since 2001 (Justice League, Justice League: Unlimited, Young Justice, Young Justice Invasion) and their predecessor in Bruce Timm's Batman: The Animated Series which ran on Fox back in the early 90s.

I'm not arguing that DC is better than Marvel. I don't have a horse in that race; I enjoy them both. But DC has benefitted for years and years because of their connection with Warner, and their characters have been in the public eye basically forever because of it. On the flip side, Marvel's presence has been centered primarily on the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man and the X-Men. Which is not to say that I don't love what they've done to build the Avengers in the last 5 years. They've totally flipped Warner's pre-existing mainstream non-comic advantage on its head, and now they're the big dog. It's a new thing, and hopefully it motivates DC to do something similarly epic in scale outside of what Nolan's done.

Well said, and I touched on it earlier. No one liked Iron Man before Downey Jr and I know most people still couldn't tell you whats so special about Captain America (he doesn't have super powers, he's just a perfect human).

Well said, and I touched on it earlier. No one liked Iron Man before Downey Jr and I know most people still couldn't tell you whats so special about Captain America (he doesn't have super powers, he's just a perfect human).

Yep, without Downey, the Avengers is just fanboy appeal and nothing more.

"On January 18, 2012, The CW greenlit the pilot for a proposed Green Arrow series with Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg producing. The series, Arrow, will offer a fresh take on the character. Smallville's Justin Hartley will not be involved in the new project. Actor Stephen Amell will portray Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in the pilot. [3][4]

[edit] MovieDavid S. Goyer and Justin Marks penned a script for a movie starring Green Arrow originally called Super Max. On June 5, 2008, the film was retitled Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max. The reported storyline is that the hero (framed for a crime he didn't commit) must escape a high security prison filled with A, B and C list villains and rogue superheroes.

MTV posted an interview with Marks on its site in 2008. Marks says:

It's a very, very awesome prison. I majored in architecture in college, and design is how I actually started in. For 'Super Max,' designing that prison, it had to be the kind of thing that was a character in and of itself...We're in a world where instead of just trying to contain a guy who's really big, you're trying to contain a guy who can — in the case of Icicle — who can freeze things. What kind of a cell would a guy like that need in order to have his powers neutralized? So to escape from Super Max they have got to go through the most elaborate heist we've ever seen, involving superpowers. Because the prison itself kind of has superpowers!

Marks added that Black Canary won't be making an appearance in the film, and that it will include cameos from the Riddler, Lex Luthor and the Joker.[5]"

Personally, I'd rather see a Justice Society movie than a Justice League movie.

The original Green Lantern, the original Flash, Dr. Fate, Dr. Mid-night, Wildcat, Starman, Hourman, the Atom -- throw in the Huntress and Black Canary and you've got a well-balanced team, but no one's overpowered. Especially the last incarnation where half of them were older and the other half were next-gen versions of the heroes. Good strong characters who're more than a touch flawed.

That would be worth watching.

I like that lineup better than , Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Flash. Face it, those seven could wipe out the world and not break a sweat. Where's the challenge? Who's realistically going to threaten them?

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Well said, and I touched on it earlier. No one liked Iron Man before Downey Jr and I know most people still couldn't tell you whats so special about Captain America (he doesn't have super powers, he's just a perfect human).

He's not a perfect human. Humans do not jump 50ft down out of trees, and blast the sand out of punching bags. He has the strength of 20 men, and is as durable as an Oak tree. You're not going to like this, but him fighting Batman would be like him fighting a 12 yr old. Batman might use some device to take him down, but Batman really IS just a man. Cap is a Super Soldier.

Yep, without Downey, the Avengers is just fanboy appeal and nothing more.

Downey is Awesome casting. CA made 100mil. Thor, More than that. More people may have know who is in the past, but that doesn't mean that they would prefer to watch one of his boring plots over anything Marvel. The Zod story is pretty good, but everything else is just bland.

Nolan made Batman Epic, but That is OVER after this next film, and everything else DC has made besides that has been totally laughable. I can't wait to see them reboot batman without Nolan, and Bale.

The only superhero in Marvel that could touch and Batman in a battle of recognition is Spider-Man.. And even he would take third place to those two.

Edit: Maybe The Hulk or Wolverine. Still, neither is as popular as Bats and Supes

This probably was true at one time. Not anymore.
Spidey, Wolverine, and all of the Avengers save Cap, Widow, and Hawkeye are all bigger than now, and the only people who might find him more interesting would be under the age of 12. I doubt the new movie will have the chops to change that in the future either with what marvel has planned.
And there are more characters coming.
The only character DC has that is on their level now is Nolan's Batman, and that franchise has ended.